org-mac-mail-link.el – Create and handle links to the selected Mail.app message
1. Overview
This code will allow you to capture a TODO item based on the
currently selected Mail.app message using org-capture.
2. Installation
You should simply copy the source code from this document into your init file and edit it as you see fit.
3. Usage
Activate org-capture however you see fit (M-x org-capture works
just fine) and then whack the keychord you have set up to activate
the capture template.
4. Code
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;;; Capture template for the currently selected Mail.app message
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(defun org-mac-mail-link-get-selected-message-subject
()
(with-temp-buffer
(call-process
"osascript" nil t nil
"-e" "tell application \"Mail\" to get subject of item 1 of (selection as list)")
(buffer-substring-no-properties (point-min) (- (point-max) 1))))
(defun org-mac-mail-link-get-selected-message-id
()
(with-temp-buffer
(call-process
"osascript" nil t nil
"-e" "tell application \"Mail\" to get message id of item 1 of (selection as list)")
;; This additional encoding specifically of =/= is because Mail.app
;; claims to be unable to find a message if it's ID contains unencoded
;; slashes.
(browse-url-url-encode-chars
(buffer-substring-no-properties (point-min) (- (point-max) 1))
"[/]")))
(defun org-mac-mail-link-get-link-string
()
(let ((subject (org-mac-mail-link-get-selected-message-subject))
(message-id (org-mac-mail-link-get-selected-message-id)))
(org-link-make-string (format "message:%s" message-id)
subject)))
(defun org-mac-mail-link-get-body-quote-template-element
()
(let ((body (setq body (with-temp-buffer
(call-process
"osascript" nil t nil
"-e" "tell application \"Mail\" to get content of item 1 of (selection as list)")
(buffer-substring-no-properties (point-min) (- (point-max) 1))))))
(format "
#+begin_quote
%s
#+end_quote"
(string-join
;; Remove duplicate empty lines
(seq-reduce
(lambda (acc next)
(if (string= next (or (car (last acc)) ""))
acc
(append acc (list next))))
;; Indent each line by two spaces for inclusion in the quote
(mapcar (lambda (string)
(let ((string (string-trim string)))
(if (string= "" string)
string
(format " %s" string))))
(split-string body "\n"))
'())
"\n"))))
(require 'org-capture)
;;; You may also wish to use the Customize interface for this variable
;;; which is quite nice.
(setq org-capture-templates
;; These 2-item entries are only necessary if you want to nest the
;; capture template under a keychord.
'(("t" "TODO")
("tc" "TODO Current")
("tcm" "TODO Current Mail" entry
;; If you maintain your TODO list in a single file this will
;; place the resulting org-capture template expansion under the
;; 'Inbox' heading. You may want to modify this.
;;
;; The resulting heading looks something like
;;
;; ** TODO [[message:<encoded messageID>][subject]]
;;
;; [2021-05-02 Sun 16:22]
;;
;; #+begin_quote
;; Unwrapped
;;
;; Body
;;
;; Text
;; #+end_quote
(file+headline "~/your-org-todo.org" "Inbox")
"* TODO %(org-mac-mail-link-get-link-string)
%U%(org-mac-mail-link-get-body-quote-template-element)" :prepend t :immediate-finish t)))
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;;; Use =C-c C= as your org-capture keybinding
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(eval-after-load 'org
'(org-defkey org-mode-map (kbd "C-c C") #'org-capture))
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;;; Teach org about opening message links
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(defun org-mac-mail-link-open-link
(mid _)
(start-process "open-link" nil "open" (format "message://%%3C%s%%3E"
mid)))
(defun org-mac-mail-link-add-message-links
()
(org-link-set-parameters
"message" :follow #'org-mac-mail-link-open-link))
(eval-after-load 'org
'(org-mac-mail-link-add-message-links))